Floating Along
by carnival-cafe
Summary: Drabbles that tell the story of Yamazaki Sousuke and Nanase Haruka living under one roof and how their interactions change the way they feel about each other as time passes. Part 3 to Tick Tock. SouHaru.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters in this story they belong respectfully to Kouji Ouji, Hiroko Utsumi, Kyoto Animation.

**Warning:** Themes of shounen-ai/yaoi/homosexual relationships and whatever, you know all that good stuff, fluffy and also some mild OOC-ness… and timeskip's… If any of this bothers you then you have the option of not reading.

**A/N:** Welcome to part 3 of my SouHaru drabble series! By the way, did you guys see the trailer for the 14th episode of Free?! Yes, I'm sure everyone is excited, I know I am because, hello! Sousuke running to save Haruka?! My heart literally burst into a fireworks show! Anyways, please enjoy some drabbles. I hope they make you laugh because comedy is what I aim for (:

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o4) Spoiled

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Sometimes when Sousuke forgot his lunch on the kitchen counter whenever he was in a hurry to get to work, it became routine for Haruka to follow shortly after him and drop off his meal at the swim club's reception desk before leaving for class.

When it first happened, the amount of self-loathing Sousuke experienced after realizing he would spend his lunch hour starving was rather depressing. It may not have shown on his face but deep down, he'd become quite accustomed (not addicted) to Haruka's cooking and going without it in exchange for snacks from the vending machine was positively disheartening for him.

Of course Sousuke wasn't limited to the vending machine; the convenient store was right around the corner of the swim club but after quietly enjoying Haruka's home cooked meals for so long, he'd become quite spoiled, he realized later during the day.

But as luck would have it, just when Sousuke was about to begin his reluctant journey to the corner store (since chips and a soda was by no means a sufficient meal), his heart quite literally burst the second he caught sight of Haruka talking to the reception desk. And in his hands, low and behold was his lunch, wrapped up nice and tight just the way it'd been left on the kitchen counter for him.

"Oh, Yamazaki-san." The girl behind the desk waved at him. "Your friend is here to drop off your lunch."

"You forgot it." Haruka said, lifting the said lunchbox in the air.

"I know… " Sousuke replied grudgingly despite feeling immensely relieved.

"Isn't that great?" The receptionist asked, Kyoko, her name was, Sousuke remembered, and hesitantly he grunted a quiet but audible 'Mm' in agreement but said nothing more afterwards. "Boss Sasabe was just telling me earlier how disappointed you looked when you realized you'd forgotten your lunch."

"Oh?" Haruka turned to him, smirking ever so slightly.

Sousuke, growing uncomfortable, glared in response, all the while Kyoko talked on and on about how lovely and hearty his lunches always looked in comparison to her own. The compliments though, seemed to fuel Haruka's ego and Sousuke felt himself shrinking inside.

"The person who made them must care about you a lot huh, Yamazaki-san?" Kyoko suddenly commented, taking both men off guard. Oblivious, she continued on. "Is the person by any chance your girlfriend?"

Sousuke's face turned red with embarrassment instantly a second after the question was thrown out into the open. He had no idea what Haruka was feeling (since he was being put on the spot) but to his complete surprise, the other male appeared calm if not a little flustered, seeing as how the tips of his ears were burning red themselves. Still, Haruka held himself rather well and for a lack of a better word, Sousuke was peeved because of it.

And without much tact, Sousuke could only assume, Haruka broke the awkward silence not a second later with a firm but simple answer. "No, he doesn't have a girlfriend." He said, causing Sousuke's breath to hitch and Kyoko, poor oblivious Kyoko could only stare, her expression morphing slowly into confusion. "And just so we're clear, I'm the one that makes his lunches." Haruka added, his words sounding much like a slap to the face.

When he looked back at Sousuke again, he marched right up to him only to place the lunchbox gently in his hands. Once it was handed off to him, Haruka turned to give Kyoko a long yet thoughtful stare before walking out the front door with his head held high.

A long moment of silence followed afterwards, and when Sousuke, hesitant, turned to apologize on Haruka's behalf, he was stunned by the look of awe that seemed to inhabit itself over Kyoko's features.

"Kyo—kyoko-san?"

"Yamazaki-san I had no idea…" She began to say, her cheeks slightly flushed. "From now on, I will support you!" She suddenly said and her words, though slightly endearing only managed to confuse Sousuke even more.

After that, it seemed as though there was a decrease in women flirting with him on occasion at work but an increase in secret giggles and watchful eyes whenever Haruka turned up at the front desk with his forgotten lunches.

o5) My Waifu

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"Haru-chan! Sou-chan! We've come to visit you!"

"Ah! Please don't be so obnoxiously loud, Nagisa-kun! It's rude!" Rei exclaimed, reprimanding Nagisa but the blond next to him just looked up at the taller boy, smiling oh so innocently that Sousuke couldn't help but feel rather sorry for the bespectacled teen.

"But you were yelling just now too." He commented, and it made Rei sputter in disbelief at the way Nagisa had seamlessly turned the tables on him.

With Rei, bickering with Nagisa as always, Sousuke had half a mind to shut the door on the two third years because of the ruckus they were creating in front of the house. Still, they were Rin and Haruka's closest friends, Sousuke thought with a short sigh and he wondered again, how they could manage being surrounded by such a crowd. And a loud one at that…

Reluctant as he was, Sousuke eventually stepped aside from the entrance for Nagisa and Rei, muttering a quiet but well heard, 'please come in' and much to his dismay, the pair carried the argument into the house and Sousuke couldn't help but rub the sides of his temples. When Haruka spotted their house guests enter the foyer, he left silently for the kitchen as Sousuke led the way to the living room and not long afterwards, Haruka returned with a tray of tea and snacks.

With the group settled around the kotatsu, Nagisa went into a frenzy as he began sharing stories about the swim club's newest members. Animated as always, he served to fill the space with excitement and with Rei by his side the glow in the room seemed to grow. Haruka, listened intently of course, smiling every once in a while when Nagisa and Rei's stories clashed. Sousuke, on the other hand, detached himself from the conversation by reading the morning paper he'd picked up earlier in the day. Occasionally, he would sip his tea, sometimes even looking up when Nagisa made particularly glaring noises and if he was feeling even more generous, he'd give the duo a nod of recognition. Eventually though, Nagisa caught up to his disconnection from the group, and pouting, he plopped himself down next to the older male.

"Neee!" He began to whine and this of course garnered Sousuke's attention when Nagisa rubbed his head into his arm next.

With a heavy sigh, Sousuke peeled his eyes away from the article he was reading, arching a brow at the blond in front of him. As soon as their eyes met, he regretted giving the third year a single ounce of his attention when he observed how quickly Nagisa's eyes began to glint under the light. Mischief was definitely a foot, and Sousuke swallowed nervously in waiting, since it was far too late to turn back.

"It's rude to ignore people you know."

"Huh?" Sousuke narrowed his eyes slightly. "What do you mean? I'm listening…"

"Arghh, but that's not enough!" Nagisa pouted. "At least Haru-chan is making eye contact!" He pointed out and now that the said male was being brought into the conversation, Sousuke's gaze shifted towards and he gave him a questionable look.

"You were lying about listening to the conversation, weren't you?" Haruka asked and Sousuke made an uncomfortable noise now that he'd been caught red handed.

That of course didn't mean he wasn't going to try to save himself though, and as humiliating as it was, Sousuke felt like he had no choice but to plow through anyways if he wanted to save face. "It was about Iwatobi swim club... and who ever knocked heads with the other teammate…" That much he muttered but Haruka just shook his head.

While Sousuke and Haruka began to bicker on their own, Nagisa and Rei watched as the two conversed back and forth. The scene was rather amusing; especially with Haruka giving Sousuke a pointed glare. It was quite new to both third years too since an animated Haruka was a rare sight and smiling, Nagisa couldn't help himself from making a comment or two about it.

"You two act like quite the married couple, huh?"

"What?" The two suddenly said, their heads whipping around to stare at the blond in question.

Beside him, Rei's mouth hung open but he recovered himself quickly, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his noise in a shaky manner. "Na-nagisa-kun…"

"You don't see it?" Nagisa asked inquisitively, his head tilting to the side and hearing this, Sousuke and Haruka turned to look at one another again but the second their eyes fixed on each other; they turned away all too quickly as a nervous air fell over them. Either he was oblivious or just plain devilish (Sousuke was sure it was the latter), Nagisa pressed on with a smile regardless of the new atmosphere in the room. "Come on! See, Sou-chan is like the brooding father who makes deep grunts every so often and Haru-chan is like the sweet mother who takes care of the kids! That would be you and me, Rei-chan!"

"Huh?! Nagisa-kun that's going too far!" Rei tried to argue but once Nagisa set his mind to something, he was an unstoppable force much to everyone's dismay.

"It's representational!" Nagisa suddenly exclaimed, his loud voice firm and undeterred. "Don't you see? Sou-chan makes the perfect example of a traditional father figure, Haruka the mother and because we're younger it's obvious we would be their unruly children! Or, you can be the pet dog if you want, Rei-chan?"

"N—no, I don't want to be a dog!"

"Now all we're missing is Rin and Makoto…" Nagisa murmured thoughtfully, ignoring Rei for a moment. "Of course they'll be the two sons who went off to college and because we're third years, we'll be flying out of the nest soon too! I hope that won't bother you too much, mama Haru-chan and papa Sou-chan!"

As much as the pair wanted to abject to Nagisa's insane analogy, they were speechless as can be at how far the made up story was taken. While Rei went ahead to argue the absurdity of his character being made into the family dog, Sousuke and Haruka couldn't help but let their heads hang low at the very idea of being matched up with each other. Husband and wife? That had to be impossible… Right?

o6) Animal Therapy

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The neighborhood cats were a common sight to behold on the Nanase property. But since Sousuke's move into the house, it seemed as though their presence had decreased suddenly from at least ten felines to less than five at the very least.

Of course this change hadn't bothered Sousuke in the slightest; not one bit at all but he very well couldn't say the same thing for Haruka. Every morning and evening, his housemate was adamant in leaving a plate of cat food out on the back porch for theprowling felines. Because of this, the cats were still a constant occurrence but the quantity fell short of the usual and Sousuke only really saw them on occasion since he was hardly interested. Haruka never voiced his concerns over the matter though but from Sousuke's perspective, the new development seemed to sadden him considerably.

As much as Sousuke felt like he should leave the situation as it was in the hopes that it would eventually fix itself over time, fate had other plans and it came in the form of a pair of kittens. He had no idea where they came from or how they got into the house but one look at Haruka; the male already appearing in the living room with a plate of what looked like food specifically for kittens and Sousuke knew who to put the blame on as the young felines scrambled after the delectable scent.

"So where'd they come from?" Sousuke asked, prodding at the black kitten that was settled in his lap.

"Outside." Haruka replied simply and Sousuke watched as he lifted the other kitten, a fluffy gray one up into the air only to nuzzle it affectionately. It was a rather strange sight but it was lovely nonetheless and Sousuke couldn't help himself from staring, astonished but calm. "They were alone and I didn't want them to starve."

"I see, that was gracious of you." Sousuke noted, waving his finger playfully in a circle at the kitten's face. The feline batted at him in response, mouth open as if to bite him but no such thing happened since Sousuke pulled away in time before the kitten could grab him. "So then, I guess you're keeping them?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Not really."

"Okay, I'm keeping them."

"Whatever you say." Sousuke replied. "Just know that I will not take care of the litterbox." He commented jokingly.

However, Haruka stiffened at his comment and looking at Sousuke, he wore a rather surprised expression. "So then, you don't mind them?"

Looking between Haruka and the kittens, Sousuke had quite a lot to think about. They were already living together as housemates. Haruka took care of most if not all of the cooking, the chores were split in half so that Sousuke could earn his keep and there was the addition of school and work for the both of them. It would be hard to raise the kittens, Sousuke frowned at the thought but Haruka seemed adamant in keeping them. And since they were strays, there was also the matter of taking them to the vet… The responsibilities were piling up, Sousuke sighed and the look of hope dancing in Haruka's bright, blue eyes weren't making it any easier.

"I don't mind them living with us, I suppose, however it's going to be a lot of work." Sousuke finally said.

"I know that." Haruka replied, looking down. "But I don't like the idea of abandoning them either..."

"We'll split the chores for them between us then, however I'm still not cleaning any litterboxes."

"That's fine by me." Haruka smiled then and Sousuke's eyes widened at the sight.

As they sat side by side in a moment of comfortable silence, it was eventually broken by Haruka's next words and it left Sousuke vexed if not annoyingly confused. "I'm naming him Mackerel." Haruka said, gesturing to the kitten in his hands before pointing at the black short hair kicking up at Sousuke. "And that one Soda."

"Hey, shouldn't I get a say in naming them?" Sousuke asked, his brow twitching slightly. "And why Mackerel and Soda? Of all names you could have given them, why those?"

Calm as ever, Haruka didn't look like he was the least bit threatened by Sousuke's irritation. In fact, he seemed quite confident that his decision would not be swayed by his housemate in the slightest. "I'm naming them Mackerel and Soda because I like eating mackerel and you like drinking soda. Simple as that." Haruka explained. "Doesn't it count as being considerate since I thought of you when I named him Soda?"

And who was Sousuke to continue arguing with a person like Haruka when the truth was laid out in front of him that way? That and the fact that Haruka was the one consistently stocking up on his favorite drink in the fridge without his request left no room for Sousuke to make a biting remark and just as Haruka thought, Sousuke fell into a defeated silence and he smiled again, triumphantly for winning two battles in one day.

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**A/N:** So, it looks like I'm going to try and continue this SouHaru drabble series. I have no idea where it's headed to honestly—it's quite possible there'll be a longer story but I haven't decided yet. I'm just drabbling at this point in time but I know for a fact that I'm going to tie it back into the first drabble that I wrote. I don't know when it'll happen, but it will happen eventually!

Also, I feel like the second drabble may have been a little out of hand but I wrote it with Nagisa's eccentric personality in mind… kufufufu… ^-^

If you have any questions or comments, don't be afraid to send them my way :') Thanks for reading!


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